The Alder King
by Momochi Zoey
Summary: After the Mountain, Lexa discovers Clarke has left Camp Jaha and goes after her to save her. Post S2 Finale. Inspired by Der Erlkönig written by Goethe and composed by Franz Schubert, which gave me this idea that I couldn't get out of my head.


Quickly Lexa's horse galloped through the woods. In front of her she held an unconscious Clarke.

After she left Clarke at the Mountain, she retreated with her people to Polis where the freed prisoners of the Mountain were treated. All the while she couldn't stop thinking about Clarke, wondering if she was okay, if she was alive. After a week trying to distract herself from her thoughts she couldn't take it anymore. She had to see Clarke, to make sure she was alright. She took the fastest horse from her stables and started on her way to Camp Jaha.

When she got close to the Skaikru camp, she was met by a very angry Octavia behind the treeline surrounding Camp Jaha. When she asked her where Clarke was, she told her she had left Camp Jaha because of the guilt from killing all the Mountain Men.

This shocked her immensely, not only because she hadn't heard that the Mountain had been defeated, but also because food was extremely scarce this time of the year, which was why the Trigedakru always made sure to stock up plenty before the winter. If Clarke was out there, she had to go after her, or she wouldn't survive the next few days.

She ignored Octavia's calls as she jumped back on her horse and sped of into the woods to search for Clarke.

By midnight she still hadn't found Clarke, and she was almost ready to give up for the day and set up camp when she saw a flash of blonde hair in the corners of her eyes. She jumped of of her horse and ran in the direction she saw it. There she found Clarke, leaning weakly against a tree.

Clarke slowly opened her eyes when she heard something moving loudly through the forrest. At first she couldn't bring up the energy to lift her head, but when she heard the sound coming closer, she weakly managed to look up.

What she saw convinced her she was having another hunger-induced halucination. It'd been a week since she last ate something, and there wasn't really a better explanation for why she was suddenly seeing Lexa running towards her with a worried look on her face. Why would Lexa be worried, she left her at Mount Weather didn't she?

While she had come to understand why Lexa did what she did over the last few days, since she practically did the same thing by sacrificing the Mountain Men for her own people, that didn't mean she could live with it like Lexa could.

Over the past week she hadn't been able to find any fruit to eat, animals to hunt, not even berries to pick. Right now she didn't even have the energy to try anymore. She was going to die here, she knew that, and she had accepted that fact when she realised she couldn't do anything to stop it. It might even be better this way, she'd finally be free of the guilt she felt for the massacre of the Mountain Men, the innocents whose lives she had ended.

"Clarke!" she heard someone shout with a familiar voice. Was it really Lexa? Why was she here? How did she find her? She managed a weak "Lexa?" before she slumped against the tree again, energy spent from the effort even that single word took.

Rushing towards Clarke when she heard her weakly say her name, she immidiately lifted her up in her arms and brought her to her horse. "Don't move, you need to rest. I will take you to Camp Jaha so you can be healed as quickly as possible." She said as she lifted Clarke on her horse. Too weak to protest, and unsure if she even wanted to, Clarke stayed silent as they sped through the woods.

Lexa made sure she held Clarke tightly, so she wouldn't bounce too harshly on the horse, while also making sure she kept her warm, because Clarke had been freezing when she found her.

She looked down to make sure Clarke was alright and saw Clarke was trying to hide her head in her jacket, looking horrified at an alder tree in the distance. Wondering what she was doing, she asked her "Why do you hide your face? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Clarke looked up at Lexa's face from the trees where she saw her father. "Don't you see him? Over there, that's my father! He's right there between the trees!"

Lexa looked around confused, she couldn't see anything between the trees. "There is nothing there Clarke, only a streak of fog."

Clarke looked up when she heard the image of her father start speaking. "Come Clarke, come with me! We can play games together, maybe even play a game of football instead of watching! We can paint and we can make so many beautiful drawings!"

Clarke looked confused at Lexa and wondered why she acted like she couldn't see him. "Don't you hear him, Lexa? He promised me we'd play and paint together like before."

Lexa started getting really worried about Clarke. "No one said anything, you probably just heard the leaves rustling in the wind. Come on, hold on tight, we'll be there soon." She reassures her.

Clarke looked frightened at the image of her father, now joined by three other familiar shapes. "Don't you want to come with your father, Clarke?", he says "Finn and Wells are here, as is Anya. They're waiting for you. They'll help you, Clarke, they'll take care of you and sing you to sleep when you're having a nightmare."

Shaking Lexa's arm, she tried to show Lexa where her father was. "Don't you see them there, Lexa? It's my father, Finn, Wells and Anya. They're right there, in the shadow of those two Alder trees."

Lexa looks carefully at the trees Clarke was pointing at, but she couldn't see anything. "You're probably seeing the moonlight on the bark of those Alders." She said, speeding up a bit. These hallucinations were pretty severe, she had to make sure to get Clarke to Camp Jaha in time to save her.

As they approached the trees her father stood under, she heard him say something more. "I love you Clarke, you're my daughter, come join me!"

Just as they passed him, he reached for her. "If you won't come willingly, I'll force you to come here." He said as he painfully grabbed her arm.

"Lexa, help me, he's grabbing my arm! He's hurting me!" Clarke yelled, weakly trying to break free from his hold.

Scared by Clarke's sudden panic, she spurred her horse on, the forrest becoming a dark green and brown blur to her eyes. She increased her speed even more when Clarke's struggling against the illusionary grip became fainter and fainter, only sometimes softly groaning, no longer strong enough to speak to Lexa.

Finally the lights of Camp Jaha come into view. Hurrying to the gates, she yells for the guards to open the gate so she can take Clarke to the med bay. Shocked by the sight of their unconscious leader on a horse with the Grounder Commander, the guards quickly allow her to pass.

Lexa ran to the med bay with Clarke in her arms and laid her down on a bed as Abby ran into the room. She vaguely noticed she was saying something to her, but she couldn't focus on what it was. All she knew was that the blonde woman in her arms was motionless.

 **AN: Thank you all for reading. This is my first fic, a Clexa oneshot inspired by listening to Der Erlkönig by Goethe, in the song form by Franz Schubert. After hearing it a few times I couldn't get this idea out of my head.**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you think! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Also, since English isn't my first language, please tell me if there were any mistakes in my grammar.**


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